Dealing with Technical Issues During an Integrated Lesson

Technical Issues

1. Make sure you check things out before you start the lesson - Since most schools don't have a person in the building that can come fix things at a moments notice, it is very important to head off problems before the lesson begins by running through a checklist.
2. Don't try to solve the problem during your lesson - Switch out a non-working laptop/device for a working one. If you are using the internet and the website you are using isn't working, try opening it in a different browser. Whether you are on a PC or a Mac, the computers in our system are loaded with several web browsers for that very reason.
3. Note any issues and turn in work orders when your lesson is finished - This district is fortunate to have a dedicated department of network and repair technicians to handle technical issues with our network, software, and devices. They are very helpful and are very quick to respond. To turn in a work order: Go to www.cmcss.net. Click on the faculty and staff tab. Click on Turn In a Technology Workorder on the left. You will need to type in the Username and Password. Use your MyLogin credentials.
4. Switch to Plan B - Always have a backup plan ready to go. Make it as simple as possible.

1. What to do with "Out of Control" students.
2. What to do with those who finish your project.
3. What to do with those who are lost or behind.
4. What to do with those who just have questions.
5. What to do with inappropriate internet content.

1. Technology use is a privilege, not a right. If a student can't control himself, paper and pencils work well and are much easier to replace. He might think twice about his behavior the next time.
2. Have an alternate activity in your bag of tricks for those that finish early. Maybe, have them be your assistants for those that are behind, or have them add a more challenging element to their projects.
3. When you have students that get behind on a regular basis, sit them beside that buddy that can help them get back on track without doing the work for them.
4. Have a system for getting questions answered. One favorite among teachers is "Ask 3, then me." Students with questions have to ask 3 other students for help before they ask you. Students always speak in student-friendly terms.
5. Inappropriate content is often not the student's fault. A procedure that is fair to all could be this. If the student is doing a search on the internet using appropriate words and something comes up that is inappropriate for school, he needs to close the window and let the teacher know. It is not the student's fault. The search engine and internet filter are never going to be as smart as a human. There is no substitute for training the students to do what is right. This also presents you with an opportunity to teach searching strategies. If, however, the student either showed his buddy the inappropriate content or went searching for inappropriate content in the first place, then the student is in the wrong and your classroom expectations should cover what happens as a consequence.

The Lesson Itself

1. Getting started. Having a clean desk with no water bottles or other hazards on top helps take care of these shared resources. Have a procedure for distributing and for starting the technology. Do you set them on the desk? Do you let the students come get their own? Do you have designated students pass them out? Do they all turn the machines on as soon as they have them or wait to do it together with you? Your decision for your class will depend on your students' age and maturity level. Another idea you will need to ponder that falls under the heading of getting started, is who gets them. One easy way to manage the "who" part of the equation is to assign each student a specific numbered computer. This accomplishes 2 goals. One goal is to make the student feel more responsible for them by having the same machine every time. It gives them a sense of ownership that will most likely cause them to be more responsible for it. The second goal is to ease the process for saving work. If they use the same machine every time, there will not be any question where their work has been saved. In addition, in middle school and high school classes, having a fewer number of students building profiles (this happens automatically when a student logs in) on a computer means less of the space available on the machine is being used and there will be fewer instances of students not being able to log in because there isn't enough memory. This is especially important when using the minis, so please assign computers!
2. Speak the lingo. Students need to hear the correct technology terms as you are working through a lesson. Even simple terms, like toolbar or Edit menu, will help students build context for this and other lessons. This is especially important for those with no computers at home or no one at home helping them with the vocabulary. Computer technology has its own literacy that our students need to make them competitive in a global economy.
3. Modeling. You may not know everything about technology, but there is a very good chance you know more than your students do. Just as you would model how to solve a quadratic equation or how to write a friendly letter, modeling how to use the technology is important for the students to see. If you don't know as much about the technology as your students, use them as resources. Nothing builds pride as quickly as knowing that your ideas have worth and importance. Let the student lead the modeling from your teacher station while you walk the class through the content portion of your lesson.
4. Teaching the Toolbars. Every program has tools. The tools are usually kept as buttons in strips across the top, sides, or bottom of the screen. These toolbars are key to manipulating the program. Often the buttons are not labeled. However, simply allowing the cursor to hover on a toolbar button without clicking will reveal a hidden label that lets you know the name or use of the button.
5. Printing and Alternatives. Printing a finished product is very important, but printing at the end of every class is wasteful and sends the wrong message to our students. Only the most important things need to be printed. How many times have we run out of toner or paper because someone printed a webpage that had 10 pages when they only need a few sentences for a reference. If it is references that are needed, have your students open Microsoft Word, then highlight, copy, and paste what they need into it. They will only print what is important, not numerous pages they don't need and won't use. Powerpoints are another waster. There is rarely a need to print 1 slide per page for the students. In the print window, look for a choice called, "Print What", it has a drop-down menu where they can choose to print handouts that fit 6 slides per page. Kidspiration and Inspiration also can often print multiple pages on one sheet. In the print window, look for a drop-down menu called "Copies & Pages". Change this to "Layout" and then you will see a choice called "Pages Per Sheet". Click on the drop-down menu beside it to change the setting from 1 page to the number of pages you want on one sheet of paper.
6. Saving. Saving the students work is a must for projects that take more than one period to complete. It also works well for creating a digital portfolio.
   1. In Elementary Schools. The best place to save their work is in a folder that is labeled for that type of file. Both Macs and PCs have special folders for Documents, Pictures, Music, and Movies. In addition, all schools have either Communicator servers or Active Directory servers for teachers and students to save their work. The advantage to using a server comes in allowing students to pull their work up on any student computer. They will need to learn how to login to make server use effective.
   2. In Middle/High Schools. The ONLY place students should save their work is on the server. This keeps space on the computers free and If they save to the server, they will be able to use any student computer to access their work.

1. Naming Conventions. Saving the student work is important, but being able to get it back is just as important. It doesn't matter how many times you save your work if you can't find it when you need it. Saving it in the best folder for the file type is only half the job. The other is giving it a meaningful name. Stick with something simple. Have students name their work with their name and one or two words that tell what it is. It is also very important that the name keep the 3 letter extension that appears after the "." (Example - For a report made in Microsoft Word by Jennifer Adams comparing and contrasting the effects of use of non-renewable and renewable resources on the environment, a good, simple file name would be "AdamsJenniferResourcesReport.doc". Since computers like to alphabetize their files, all of Jennifer's work will be together and in the order of the gradebook for teachers. Middle and High School teachers may want to add the class period in front of the last name, if Jennifer was in 3rd period her file name would be "3AdamsJenniferResourcesReport.doc". The student will also know which one is her report on resource use without having to open more than the one document. The extension ".doc" allows it to open on both Macs and PCs with any program that can read that file type.)